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Message: <blockquote data-quote="karlindel" data-source="post: 5204695" data-attributes="member: 27103">Earthdawn was originally published by FASA.  It was later licensed to Living Room Games, which put out a 2nd Edition with a few supplements.  The game had a strong fan following, but there were large gaps in the official support.  Redbrick Limited got the license and modified and compiled some of the 1st Edition books into the Player's Compendium and Gamemaster's Compendium, and also published additional books.  It is noteworthy that they largely ignored the metaplot of the Living Room Games edition.  They recently partnered with Mongoose Publishing to publish a new line of Earthdawn 3rd Edition books.  The 3rd Edition system has a similar base, but numerous changes from 2nd Edition crunch-wise, but the setting and background is largely the same, and there is a lot of fluff that overlaps between the editions.  Many of the older edition books are also available in pdf format. Whether or not it is a good rpg is subjective, but I think it reads well.  It has maintained a strong fan following and had three editions published.The core mechanic is based around rolling a number of dice based on the character's "Step Number" for the action being performed.  If any of the rolled dice roll the highest number on the die, the character rolls an additional die of that type (and repeats if that die rolls its highest number).  The totals on the dice are then added together.  There is a chart for the Step Numbers, and the chart is built so that the average roll of the dice (including the odds of bonus dice and their rolls) averages out to the Step Number.  The Step Number may be modified by circumstances, which can slow down gameplay, but there is an alternate rule (which I would certainly use myself) which applies the modifier to the result rather than the Step Number.  Characters have 6 Attributes (similar to D&D's) and a number of Characteristics (such as Armor, Physical Defense, Spell Defense, Social Defense, Wound Threshold, Recovery Tests, and Initiative) that are derived from these Attributes.Earthdawn has a class an level based system.  Player Characters in Earthdawn are "Adepts" who progress in a "Discipline", which means that they have found a way to view the world that allows them to tap into the power of legends to enhance themselves.  It is noteworthy that an Adept views the world through the lens of their specialty, although there is some latitude in your character's view.  As an example, an Archer would tend to view problems in terms of targets and solutions as arrows in his quiver; an Illusionist might not consider something false simply because it is not true, realizing the power inherent in a perception even if that perception has no basis in reality.  Adepts progress in mastery through "Circles", which are the equivalent of levels in D&D. Each Discipline has a number of Discipline Talents (abilities all characters of that Discipline must have) and Talent options (which allows for diversity between members of the same Discipline).  Among other things, as characters advance in Circle, they gain new Talents, new Abilities, and bonuses to their Defenses (Physical, Mental, and Social), bonuses to Initiative, Recovery Bonuses (the equivalent in 4th Edition of gaining additional Healing Surges).  All characters have Karma, which can be spent to roll an extra d6 for certain actions (which upgrades later to a d8). Characters have skills.  There is some overlap between skills and Talents, with Talents being stronger versions of the skills.  In addition, all Disciplines have "Half-Magic", which allows you to use half your Circle in the Discipline (rounded up) as the Step Number for tasks related to the Discipline.  If a character has a skill as well as Half Magic, they can choose which to use (it may be advantageous to use Half Magic even if it is slightly lower than the skill, as you can spend Karma on a Half-Magic test).To advance, a character earns "Legend Points", and keeps track of the total that they have earned, and the current number they have to spend.  Legend Points are spent to raise attributes, learn new talents, upgrade old talents, learn new skills, upgrade skills, learn spells, and purchase Karma points.  In order to advance in Circle, a character must have his Discipline talents at a minimum rank, and must meet with a higher-Circle member of his Discipline to train him.  Advancing in Circle gives new special abilities, the ability to spend Karma on additional types of tests, access to additional talent options, stronger Half-Magic, and the previously mentioned bonuses.Multi-Disciplining is possible, but can be difficult and requires GM approval.Powerful magical Items tend to have Legends of their own, and also become bound in the character's Legend.  Finding out about an items history and binding it to the character allows the character to slowly access more of the item's powers.  One thing to note is that there is no "Cleric" equivalent in Earthdawn.  Instead of gods, earthdawn has Passions (Passions are personified, although they can take many forms), and any character can be a Questor of a Passion, and the Passion grants the character magic to inspire others in the ways of the Passion.  Redbrick put out several previews for the 3rd Edition, and you can learn more of some of the mechanics in those previews.  The 3rd Edition has numerous asides that include alternate rules to tailor the game to suit your group, including ways to simplify and speed up certain things, as well as advice on bringing back limitations from older editions that were removed.</blockquote>

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